There is a new puzzle game by Zachtronics, the developers of TIS-100, SHENZHEN I/O and other similar logic games.
Its name is Opus Magnus (official website – Steam page) and here is a trailer of it:
Ohh. I know Steam makes it easier with its infrastructure (Steam Leaderboards, Steam Workshop [level editor]), but I hope it comes to GOG too! (and not being a “DRM-free” version)
What do you mean by that?
I had a look at The Witness after the Moriarty talk got me curious. I am a bit underwhelmed by the gameplay. Does Moriarty really like it?
Let me explain:
With this I mean editions of games on DRM-free sites like GOG which are (much) inferior to the original (e.g. Steam) version.
Clustertruck on GOG (nice name btw.) is such an example. Although being originally advertised on GOG with features like a level editor it has now all kind of features missing compared to the Steam version.
First of all the level editor, but also the possibility to play any custom maps, watch replays and leaderboards (“highscores”). You can’t even look up your own times!
Also this version never received any updates while the Steam version received several after release.
One developer was even bold enough to name it like that: Armello DRM-Free Edition, with DRM-free implying a lesser version of the game, a version which will never receive any updates or DLCs.
People even voted for its removal (and it’s now been removed btw., yay!).
There is a GOGmix maintained by GOG user fronzelneekburm called Games that treat GOG customers as second class citizens listing missing features/updates of games on GOG.
Even TWP is a little bit guilty in these regards since it has achievements on Steam, Xbox and PS4 but they are missing in the GOG version.
Btw. out of curiosity: Does TWP have achievements on iOS or Android?
It’s only inferior if you value achievements over freedom to own the executable game and play it on your own as you wish, when you wish, on whichever platform you wish. Some of us value that highly.
-dZ.
With GOG you can have both.
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Thanks for the explanation. Not only I was not aware of this phenomenon but I wan’t even aware of this secondary implicit meaning of the expression “DRM-free”.
Why does it happen? Is it correct to assume that there are economic reasons that motivate some developers to focus more on the platforms that will provide more revenue?
Yup! 
I don’t have any dog in this fight, because I use Steam, GOG and any other shop I like, so to me this kind of reactions feel more as a political stance than anything else.
I have given a quick look at the GOGmix you mentioned and its creator sometimes laments the fact that a game was sold on GOG for a certain price but later was offered at a lower price elsewhere (for example on Humble Bundle). I really don’t see what’s wrong or even strange with this phenomenon: different shops provide the same goods at different prices.
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I guess so. If you sell 10 times more on Steam it may happen that they concentrate on Steam only, maybe not even releasing a DRM-free version at all.
But if they do it also happens that they neglect those versions which is sad. And sucks.
I hate the Steam shop, objectively. What does this have to do with political stance?
That’s not what I meant, I don’t really care about the prices or bundles situations which he was also listing in his GOGmix. Prices change all the time anyway.
I am talking about missing updates and features, sometimes advertised beforehand on GOG:
- “missing the level editor, replays, leaderboards, and the ability to play custom maps”
- “Gog verson abandoned by dev since 2014”
- “No level editor on gog”
- “Shadwen’s level editor is Steam-exclusive”
- “This DRM-Free version does not contain the Level Editor, Workshop and Custom Map support”
- “missing the “Story Creator Mode””
- “Multiplayer/Coop is missing from the GOG version”
- “A bug prevents the completion of this game. The fix came out just days after the game was released… on Steam.”
- “GOG version suffers from a near game-breaking bug, Telltale flat-out refused to provide GOG with a patched version, despite selling a DRMed build without this bug on their own store”
- “Horrible sound quality in second episode”
- “Missing the original German language audio”
- “A patch was supposed to add 4 Player co-op support and additional fixes” “chances are the GoG version won’t be getting the patch. cheers chrisM”
- “Gog version is missing numerous updates”
(That’s from the first ~20% of the list.)
One reason is, that Steam has tools and frameworks for the developers that only work with/within Steam. For example the Steam Workshop or the achievement system. These tools aren’t compatible with other stores.
And GOG knows that, finally providing a similar infrastructure for the most important features in a similar way (achievements, cloud save, mulitplayer etc.).
You (as a developer) can even support Cross-Play between GOG and Steam if you want!
Something like Steam Workshop isn’t there, but I don’t think this is something a game needs to really depend on. It’s convenient for distribution of mods etc., but it’s not really an excuse to allow using custom stuff the old way (e.g. by putting custom maps into a specific game directory).
Completely removing a level editor (which is a complaint I often saw in the GOGmix) is not nice.
That’s additional work for the developers.
But I agree with you: I don’t like removed level editors and other features either. And in a lot of cases I won’t buy the game.
That was the Steam Workshop integration in the first place too. Admittedly I don’t really know what the API regarding Workshop really provides but I’m sure the level editors itself are actually much more work.
I hope GOG will get big enough so developers will stop neglecting DRM-free versions in the future.
I started playing indie puzzle game Thomas Was Alone today (thanks to @LowLevel for the Steam key prize).
It basically involves moving different shaped personified blocks (the first of whom is called Thomas) from one point to another. More blocks are introduced (Chris and John, so far – I predict a female soon) and it gradually gets more complex. So far it’s quite addictive, and reminds me a lot of Monument Valley in terms of the mood. Except the music in TWA is a bit grating.
The narration is good (Danny Wallace won a BAFTA for it) and makes me think there’s much more to it than it seems…
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Aha, there’s the female – a big fat blue cube called Claire. She can swim though, which the other tiny man blocks can’t. GO CLAIRE!
Oh, it was released on many hardware platforms and there is also a DRM-free version: Thomas Was Alone
(don’t bother clicking the Desura links 
)
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Yay!
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Opus Magnum is now on Gog:
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The follow up to human resource machine, 7 billion humans is out. Now with more… Humans
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